Photos by Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal
May 4, 2014 - Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol reflects on the season as he talks with the media during exit interviews at the FedExForum. (Photos by Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal)

The Commercial Appeal

Zach Randolph wants to stay in Memphis, Mike Conley is planning his wedding, Marc Gasol was truly moved by all you folks who showed up at the airport the other night and Dave Joerger is one proud Memphian. These were some of the points made during the Grizzlies media session Sunday. Here's 10 final highlights and observations:

1. Joerger was asked at the beginning of the session if he had any sort of "opening statement." He did, as it turned out. It even got a little emotional. "We're in a city that struggles with some things," he said. "A lot of single parent homes, unemployment. People just try and work their way out of it, and it's not easy. We don't sit and make excuses, this is the town I live in, this is my city, and this is the city that our guys call home. And when they put that jersey on, there is a lot of pride involved and you see that when we didn't let go of the rope. We kept fighting and fighting and fighting. And the same thing can be said of Game 7 as when we were 10-15. I'm so proud of what they've done, and what they've overcome this year. This is a special group. And they care. They care about the community, they care about playing here in front of this city and at the FedExForum. I'm proud. I'm proud of our group and what they've done this season."

2. As Ron Tillery explains in his story on Randolph, Z-Bo can return to Memphis for the final year of his contract next season, or can opt out and sign a longer contract with Memphis or elsewhere. The best option for Z-Bo and the Grizzlies would be to reach an agreement on a longer deal for less money. That would give Randolph security going forward, and would give the Grizzlies flexibility to improve the team heading into next season. Randolph is scheduled to make $16.5 million next year. What if, instead, the Grizzlies and Z-Bo agreed on a three-year deal for $30-$36 million? Tim Duncan signed for three years, $30 million. Kevin Garnett and David West signed for three years, $36 million. That seems to be the market for an older, but still productive power forward.

3. None of Randolph's teammates seem to think the big guy is going anywhere. Someone asked Conley if he would do anything to persuade Randolph to stay. "I don't think I even need to persuade him, to be honest with you," said Conley. "He loves the city, loves the people, loves this team, loves his teammates. In my heart of hearts, I think he'll be back." Gasol said, "I just assume he's going to be here." But would Gasol do anything to intervene? "If it gets ugly, yes," he said.

4. By the way, Z-Bo doesn't plan on leaving the game anytime soon. "Man, the way I play?" he said. "I love playing. I can see myself being productive, though. This game isn't about all that high jumping, it's about positioning." At this point, someone jokingly asked about Randolph losing his lift. "I ain't even got no lift," he said. "I just got a good touch. That's forever."

5. Speaking of forever, Conley will be getting hitched July 5, in Columbus. The only royalty invited will be of the Grizzlies persuasion.

6. Asked what new wrinkles he is going to add to his game this summer, Conley went for the obvious: "A new hamstring," he said.

7. In all the conversations about free agency, and possible deals, and changes that might take place during the offseason, it is striking how much the players apparently trust the new ownership and management group to do the right thing by the team. This was not always the case in Memphis. Indeed, Pau Gasol finally asked for a trade because he was skeptical that a Memphis franchise could really win. By contrast, Marc said Sunday he had complete faith in the current management group. "Yes I do," he said. "That's the message they keep sending to me, they want this team to win and they're going to do everything they can to win. There's no reason for me not to believe that." Conley was even more effusive on the topic. "I believe in them 100 percent," he said. "I think they came in with a goal. They came in and not only had the players' best interest, but the team's. Going and getting Courtney Lee and guys that can help change a season. Those are big-time moves that made you feel like they really do care about winning and they want to win now. There's a trust level and I'm excited because they'll keep us involved. They'll call and ask what I think about this and what do I think about that and do I have any input. You get that kind of level and communication going between player to management and even to ownership, it's unbelievable how they've kind of tied that together."

8. One free agent out there this summer is Marc's brother, Pau Gasol. I asked Marc if Pau had ever considered returning to Memphis. "I think right now he wants to test the market," he said. "It's the first time ever he's a free agent and he actually wants to enjoy that process. He actually wants to be recruited, all the dating, all that stuff, he wants to do that and see if he falls in love." But would Marc recruit him back to the Griz? "Me? No. He knows what we're about here in Memphis, he knows everything about it. Of course, the last season wasn't the best season for him here, but he loves this place. He always has and he always will."

9. A constant theme was the need to get off to a better start next year. The Grizzlies are going to regret their Game 4 and Game 6 losses for a long time, but they're also going to regret the sluggish start that contributed to them winding up as a No. 7 seed. "We've got to be a more consistent team every night," said Gasol. "We got used to playing at the other team's level too much. When it's a good team, we compete. We like that. When we're supposed to beat the other team, it calls to mind games against New Orleans and stuff like that, the games that you must win, especially in your division. We've got to come out better. Come out ready, the way you are supposed to. ... We can't have slow starts. If you want to be a 56-58 win team, you cannot have slow starts, you cannot start the season slow, because you're going to have a lot of ground to make up. You have to be ready from the first day of training camp. And that's not just to say, I know everybody says that. We have to be ready to play and practice and be coached better than we have."

10. Finally, lest you ever think that the relationship between a team and its fans doesn't matter, you should have heard Gasol's voice wavering when he talked about the crowd that met the Grizzlies charter at Wilson Air after the Game 7 loss. Gasol tends to be matter-of-fact in interviews. He was openly emotional this time. "Let me tell you what," he said. "We came back last night. It was pretty tough for us. We landed at the airport, Wilson Air, and we had, I don't know how many people, at least 500 people, more, waiting for us. And cheering. And that means the world to us. Because the last game, Game 6, we were down 20, almost 3:50, almost four minutes to go, and people were leaving. It broke my heart. That we didn't give enough reasons to stay the whole game, it really hurt me. It really hurt me that we couldn't pull it off, that we couldn't give them reasons to stay the whole game. So the fact of coming back home, hurt, not too happy, and seeing people there supporting you, at one in the morning, it means a lot. To me it means a lot personally."